LeBron James hits back at Nuggets coach Michael Malone: ‘the lame machine’s at an all-time high’

LeBron James has thrown some shade at the Denver Nuggets – the NBA champions –  and their head coach, Michael Malone, in his latest social media post, telling them to ‘enjoy your light but just know I’m the SUN.’

James’ latest online activity comes just a day after Malone trolled retirement rumors surrounding ‘The King’ after defeating the Miami Heat in five in the NBA Finals. The Nuggets swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. 

‘Speaking of the Lakers, I just want you guys to know… this is breaking news: I’m thinking about retiring,’ Malone joked on the Pat McAfee show, hours before the Nuggets’ championship parade on Thursday.

There was also a moment at the rally that went viral, when Malone was introduced to the Nuggets faithful as ‘the Lakers’ daddy.’ 

James, who traveled abroad during the Finals, is now clapping back at the Nuggets chitchat, saying he was ‘in Europe for the last past few weeks minding my business,’ when found out about the franchise’s smack talk, so he asked: ‘I’m on your mind that much, huh?’

LeBron James hit back at the Denver Nuggets’ smack talk after their NBA championship title

James shared a picture of himself on Instagram at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, along with the caption: I heard I’m on your mind that much huh? […] wave the flag on these lames!!’ 

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone trolled retirement rumors about LeBron and was referred to as the ‘Lakers’ daddy’ at the Nuggets championship rally on Thursday

‘I mean I guess I see why,’ added the four-time NBA champion on Instagram with a photo of him waving the starting flag at 24 Hour of Le Mans. 

‘But wave the flag on these lames!! Please make being player cool again cause the lame machine is at an all-time high. Enjoy your light but just know I’m the SUN. I stay on forever!’

Following the Lakers’ series loss to the Nuggets on May 22, James was cryptic about his future at the podium when he spoke to many reporters. 

‘I don’t like to say it was a successful year because I don’t play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career,’ said the 38-year-old, who was averaging 23.4 points and 10 rebounds in 12 game in the playoffs. ‘I don’t get a kick out of making a Conference appearance. I’ve done it a lot. It’s not fun to me to not be able to be a part of getting to the Finals.

‘But we’ll see. We’ll see what happens going forward. But I don’t know. I don’t know. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. 

‘Just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.’ 

Midway through the season, the Lakers were the 13th seed in the West but made a late playoff surge following the additions of several players, noticeably D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura, at the trade deadline to improve upon the roster.  

James, who broke the league’s all-time scoring record in his 20th season (and fifth for the Lakers), still remains one of the best playing in the NBA. 

He finished the season with averages of 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.